Yesterday the Seattle Planning Commission sent a letter to Seattle Department of Planning and Development Director Diane Sugimura spelling out the Commission’s recommendations for maximizing our public investment in transit. Hot and bothered yet?..

The opening of a new tram (streetcar) line is usually the occasion for lots of hype and celebration about trams. But Reims, France is using the opening day of a new tram to pitch a newly integrated network, the "Réseau Bus-Tram." The term clearly invites us to stop thinking of buses and trams as separate things, and forming attachments to one or the other... Read On

Chapter 23.80 marks the end of Subtitle IV, Division I and the end of what might be called the substantive portions of the code. I'm just about done folks. My goal is to mostly finish this off this week, and then regale you with my thoughts on what we should do going forward... Read On

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired of talking long-term. For transit plans, it basically seems to be a code word for "probably never." So it was quite a pleasant surprise that IndyGo can actually implement some system enhancements in the next 3 years without a need for improving their funding situation... Read On

Steve Stofka has a post detailing his ideal new city, built on principles of high density through very narrow streets, and an interconnected, pedestrian-friendly grid. Its population is given as 30,000, and its area as about 2 square miles, or 5 square kilometers. ... Read On

The social entrepreneurs profiled on the following pages, however, have decided that the "official" workings of cities can be just as robust and progressive as those of college-town startups. Seasoned professionals in Chicago are lending their business skills to maximize city revenues... Read On

At long last, the Arlington city council (narrowly) voted to pass their proposed bike plan, in a 5-4 split vote (including, disappointingly, Mayor Cluck on the wrong side of the line). No point in giving a big recap, as the Star-Telegram does a good enough job of that... Read On

When they couldn't sell their large lots for mansions in the 1910s, early real estate land developers in Vancouver's Grandview "suburb" split them into smaller lots, and sold them to workers to build their own homes... Read On

Nothing causes more fits of hand-wringing among urbanists than the issue of children in the city. We all want to believe that cities ought to be desirable places to live for families with children, but somehow it rarely seems to work out that way ... Read On

As President Obama has said, to win the future, we must dream big and build big. One of the best examples of dreaming and building big in our nation's history is America's Interstate Highway System, which marks its 55th anniversary today... Read On

Jeff Wood, Reconnecting America's New Media Director and Chief Cartographer, collects news stories and blog posts about transit and transit-oriented development from around the country and posts them at TheDirectTransfer.com. Jeff then takes the top 10 articles in each of five categories and sends that out as Other Side of the Tracks email newsletter. The content of that email is then posted here.